Don,
Great report. Questions will come later. I think WNTS is finally launched as an internet organization and could easily grow to match the size of ENTS. I suspect that there are many folks out there saying to themselves, "Hey, what about us? We've got great trees all over the West." Of course, we have great distances all over the West. Consider a single fact. Colorado and Wyoming are both large states and people traveling across those states might not sense much difference in their respective sizes. However, the insignificant seeming amount that Colorado exceeds Wyoming in size is almost the size of the entire state of Massachusetts. I'm stuck here in New England in midget land. However, as consolation I have a backyard loaded with 100-foot+ tall trees of at least 8 species. Can't complain too much. Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: "DON BERTOLETTE" <[email protected]> To: "Western Native Tree Society" <[email protected]>, [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 11:38:02 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [WNTS] /[ENTS] Yellowknife Trip Report WENTS/ENTS- I’ve put together a slideshow of images, taken as I drove from Yellowknife to the Cameron Falls trailhead, and then along the trail to the falls. My first time using Photobucket, I can’t promise that I’ve done all things correctly, but I hope so…it was a nice ride, hike and I hope you enjoy it (at least you’re able to enjoy it in a mosquito-free environment! A narrative follows the Photobucket link (where individual slide titling and descriptions can be found): http://s875.photobucket.com/albums/ab312/forestoration/?albumview=slideshow The community of Yellowknife is adjacent to Great Slave Lake, and many smaller waterbodies. The terrain is that of the Canadian Shield, an ancient exposed bedrock that has since the last ice age been partially covered with a Boreal Forest Ecosystem. Numerous bedrock exposures remain unforested. Where forested, stands tend to be either pure stands or depending on variable soil constituents, mixed forest stands of black spruce, white spruce, balsam fir, quaking aspen, balsam poplar, or white birch. As a sample of the countryside, I chose the Ingraham Trail which is paved at first and later graveled and a fine travelling surface. Running east from the city of Yellowknife, the road eventually parallels the Cameron River for some 20 kilometers, passing by many small to medium lakes, some of which are populated with small summer homes, some not. All are quite scenic and retain much of their wilderness character. Within the first few kilometers, the Ingraham Trail crosses the Yellowknife River with the appearance of being wide and deep, with a fast current. Looking up river, the forest runs down right to the river’s edge, broken here only by a summer cottage with a small dock for small boat access. Downriver, the Yellowknife runs into Great Slave Lake. The roadway continues through the countryside with roadside wildflowers brightening the otherwise green forested expanses. Fireweed and woodrose, familiar to Alaskans, grow along the roadway, with an occasional columbine. The focus of the afternoon’s activity was to be a hike out to Cameron Falls, some 40 kilometers from town. Parking at the trailhead, I met three hikers just coming out of the forest into the parking area, somewhat abruptly. We smiled, we chatted briefly, and off I went into the forest…it soon became clear why the hikers had been in such a rush. Swarmed by mosquitos, black flies, and an incredibly aggressive relative to what I’d call a deer fly (at least in California), I could hardly get my pack off, get it open, get out the hat/headnetting I’d put there thinking I might need it, and get it on…a serious piece of equipment, it had thin bunji cords that you put your arms through to keep it close and tight to your shirt. Blessed relief was had, after a short killing spree of the few mosquitos that were caught inside. Wearing long pants and long sleeve shirt, I had only to sink my hands deeply into my pockets to attain fair protection from the flying beasts. Even then, the longer snouted ones were able to penetrate my shirt, when I wasn’t in motion. Ever walked over hill and dale, at a spirited pace, with hands deep in your pockets? It took but 20 minutes to traverse a typically 30 minute hike. Was it worth it? It was a great trail, with sections of board walk through marshy areas, and steps to negotiate steep rocky sections. With the crossing of each of two ridges, the sound of the falls grew noticeably louder. Each of the ridges tended to have less soil coverage, and were characteristically bedrock with depressions pocketing sufficient soil to have “islands” of mosses, forbs, grasses, wildflowers and/or small jack pines, white birches, or quaking aspens. When I say sufficient soil, I am describing shallow (perhaps several inches thick) and small (sometimes as little as a meter square) patches in small rock basins. Sometimes it takes nothing more than a crack in the bedrock for jack pines ( Pinus banksiana lamb.) or birches and aspen to take up residence. The forest across much of the trail consisted of primarily white birch and black spruce of small dimension due to the limited soil availability. These boreal species range across much of the Canadian provinces. Jack pines, a close relative to the lodgepole pine (they hybridize) share an interface that approximately splits Canada east/west. Jack pines will range just a little bit higher before giving way to a purer black spruce/white birch community. Like the lodgepole, jack pines have attenuated cones that expose their fire-adapted ecology, persisting through many years, and opening primarily in response to the heat from wildfires. It is said that indigenous natives have been known to parboil male flower cluster to remove resins, to make them a desired food item. I was finally myself not considered as a food item for the swarming hordes, when I at last arrived at the Cameron waterfall. There the air was displaced by the cascading falls (some 15 meters in height) into enough wind currents that the viewpoint was bug-free and the hat/headnet was greatfully remove. And a gorgeous waterfall it is. Loud, chaotic, braiding, it looks impassable by even the most serious watercraft (which do ply upper and lower Cameron river waters). After a satisfying respite, the netting went back on, hands once again sought the depths of my pockets, and I returned in a fashion similar to my initial entry. At the trailhead once again, I met a young couple in tanktops and shorts, bade them good luck, and returned to my transport…another brief battle ensued extinguishing the mosquitos attached to me, before driving off. No better recommendation I can make than that made by the Boy Scouts…”be prepared!”, and a good time can be had by all. -Don Hotmail® has ever-growing storage! Don’t worry about storage limits. Check it out. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
